Welcome to ChitChat!

The president and his wife visited our little state for the 4th of July at Mount Rushmore last night. I watched it on the tv and the fireworks were great.

I’m working on my stepson’s family. It’s slow going as I haven’t been feeling good. Found out I have low blood pressure. It sucks, no energy, tired all the time, shaking and on occasion nauseous. I keep plugging away on the picture. Thought I’d be done by the end of July, now more likely end of August. I’m doing it strictly from the photo.

Today is .................

Yesterday the people next door held a graduation party in a party tent with live music. Not good for early to bed me but I decided to try some ear plugs that I’ve had hanging around In my medicine cupboard. Oh my, they worked a dream. I can’t compare them to anything I’ve tried before. They blocked out all sound, even the base dunk a dunk, and we’re so comfortable as they mould to your ear. Tonight there is another party right across the road for another graduate, same procedure for me but without the nerves and agro wondering when I’ll be allowed to sleep.

Hello everyone! My apologies for the delay in starting our monthly Show and Tell thread -- until I woke up this morning and was watching the news, I forgot that today is the first of the month! If you like, post a photo of what you've been working on in recent weeks (what progress have you made during the past month) or what you've recently completed. If you prefer, or if you're photo-challenged, just tell us in words. As always, we all look forward to seeing the variety of projects and themes that are posted!

Should I buy a floss organizer with floss in it? If so, will just any brand be okay or just DMC? Which is expensive and then buy patterns and cloth. Or buy kits which has cloth and floss but again not cheap. Should I buy cross stitch magazines and try a pattern that way? I am a newbie and an old lady on a fixed income so I can’t buy real big fancy kits or floss that costs 3 bucks a pack. What way should I go? Perhaps I’m making this too difficult?

Maybe this would help some people understand...

I just got the Pattern Keeper app (it's only available for androids, sorry to the iOS users). The app also only supports certain designers, and full coverage patterns. I'm using it for a pattern from Pic2Pat. The pattern has 150 colors and I decided to stitch the floss colors with the fewest stitches first. Last night, I stitched 130 stitches, but that was from 40 colors. The app is WONDERFUL for finding the stitches, you just tap the color or symbol you are looking for and it highlights them all. You stitch them, then you mark the stitches as done on the app. No more searching for a symbol, on a piece of paper. There is a fully functionally, free trial period (1 month maybe) for the app, then it's $9 to purchase. I know I've read that some of you are already using assorted digital means to stitch from. I wasn't sure I would like the method, as I *though* process of highlighting the floss (on the app), stitching, then marking/clearing the completed stitches (on the app) would be cumbersome and time consuming. Well, I was wrong! It's not really any different than picking up a highlighter, opening it, then coloring on paper. But, I saved so much time and effort from not having to 'search' a paper chart for that one confetti stitch. Plus, there is no chance of me accidentally getting highlighter on my fabric 😁.

You take 3 cups water, 1 cup vinegar, drizzle one teaspoon of baking soda, volcano moment so stir it, add strawberries let sit for 15 minutes and the ewww factor is astonishing! I won't post a picture but the amount of dirt, wax and little white wormies were nasty. The little wormies cant hurt you but they were still unsettling. I also learned how to store them for up to ten days with dry paper towels and a vented storage container in the crisper part of your refrigerator. I was told to do this with all fruit and a salt water bath for all veggies.

Is there anyone planning a July 4th celebration? We will just be grilling at home. Just us three. For those not familiar with se Oklahoma, it is fairly green here and the next county over is a woodsy area with a lake. Very beautiful there. Get a lot of tourists from Dallas. Also brought an outbreak of over 500 covid cases. So stay safe, my friends.